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Seahorse heads have a ‘no wake zone’ that’s made for catching prey

Posted onNovember 28, 2013

The dwarf seahorse, Hippocampus zosterae, has a head perfectly shaped to sneak up on fast moving copepods. Credit: Brad GemmellSeahorses are slow, docile creatures, but their heads are perfectly shaped to sneak up and quickly snatch prey, according to marine scientists from The University of Texas at Austin.

“A seahorse is one the slowest swimming fish that we know of, but it’s able to capture prey that swim at incredible speeds for their size,” said Brad Gemmell, research associate at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, which is part of the College of Natural Sciences.

The prey, in this case, are copepods. Copepods are extremely small crustaceans that are a critical component of the marine food web. They are a favored meal of seahorses, pipefish and sea dragons, all of which are uniquely shaped fish in the syngnathid family.

Copepods escape predators when they detect waves produced in advance of an attack, and they can jolt away at speeds of more than 500 body lengths per second. That equates to a 6-foot person swimming under water at 2,000 mph.

“Seahorses have the capability to overcome the sensory abilities of one of the most talented escape artists in the aquatic world—copepods,” said Gemmell. “People often don’t think of seahorses as amazing predators, but they really are.”

In calm conditions, seahorses are the best at capturing prey of any fish tested. They catch their intended prey 90 percent of the time. “That’s extremely high,” said Gemmell, “and we wanted to know why.”